After two world championships, a Cy Young award and numerous Silver Slugger trophies in a decade, the Red Sox could find themselves today with something they haven't seen in years: the American League's most valuable player on their roster.

That certainly looks like a strong possibility, since Dustin Pedroia's remarkable season coupled with a dearth of traditional MVP candidates in the AL has opened up the possibility. The announcement of the winner is expected at about 2 p.m. today.

To show how difficult winning a MVP award can be, here's a partial list of players who haven't ever won it:

The point of this exercise isn't to denigrate a list of talented players. It's to point out just how difficult winning a MVP award truly can be. Face it: three of the top four sluggers of the last 20 years in Red Sox baseball fell short of winning the award, leaving Mo Vaughn (1995) alone on the list of winners during that time span.